The Emigrant Woman’s Tale
The Emigrant
Woman’s Tale
Songs, poetry and memories of crossing borders, captured on film.
With Fil Campbell & Csilla Toldy · 2020Songs, poetry and memories of crossing borders, captured on film.
In November 2020, singer and songwriter Fil Campbell described filming with Tommy and writer Csilla Toldy earlier that summer. They gathered, socially distanced, in a garden to make a programme based on The Emigrant Woman’s Tale.
A meeting in the garden
Campbell’s account places the filming in August, during the pandemic. The programme brought together songs and poetry with personal recollections: her experiences of growing up near the Irish border and Toldy’s memories of the Iron Curtain.
Stories across borders
The film belonged to a series about projects supported by the EU Peace and Reconciliation Fund and the connections they encouraged between communities. Campbell’s first-person account is a window into this particular collaboration, distinct from Tommy’s later community film work with Artsawonder.